A Study Of English Writing Anxiety Of Art Students In Xi'an International Studies University

Writing smoothly in English for Chinese EFL learners is widely recognized as one of the most difficult language skills.And a large number of studies have shown that writing anxiety exerts great impact on English writing.Although much efforts have been made to measure the English writing anxiety condition of English major and non-English major students in English writing,few was exploratory enough to investigate English writing anxiety of art students.This study is about to analyze art students' English writing anxiety and these participants are freshmen from Xi'an International Studies University(XISU).In this study,103 subjects including 36 males and 67 females respectively,chosen by convenience sample,major in Drama,Performance,Cartoon,and Visual Communication Design.A multi-method approach including Second Language Writing Anxiety Inventory,Exploratory Factor Analysis,English writing test and interview has been used to discover the writing anxiety condition of art students,the correlation between the level of writing anxiety and writing performance,the correlation between the students' self-evaluation of overall English writing proficiency and their writing anxiety.Results of this study reveal that the art students do experience English writing anxiety,and the high-anxiety group and low-anxiety group do differ in writing performance,and they are anxious about writing performance for three main factors,including conceiving anxiety,avoidance behavior and lack of confidence.At the same time,the correlation between writing performance and writing anxiety does exist negatively.In addition,the correlation between art students' self-evaluation of overall writing proficiency and writing anxiety exists positively as well.In the end,suggestions are provided for art students' English writing and writing teaching.